Old School and New school

I don't know if this is the place for this post or not... I went to the range today. I shot my old .30-30 and my shiny new .338 Edge from Defensive Edge. My dad bought the .30-30 used when he was in his early 20's. He would be in his late 70's if he was still alive. It's still shoots pretty good. I think with someone that's better with iron sights than I am it would do better. I couldn't do better than 4 in a 10" circle at 100 yards. That's all that I shot so maybe I could do a little better The image was shot with a 17mm T-S so it looks a little wonky on the edges.

I don't know where to start with the Canyon Rifle. I knew it was going to be a good shooter but I had no idea it was going to do this well. I haven't been behind a scope since May and that was my .22. I shot my 7 mag back in April and piddled with the AR's a little last month. The first round out of the Edge at 100 yards was dead center. Not bad considering that I didn't touch the scope and the rifle had just arrived from Idaho the day before. I asked Shawn Carlock to get a case since I was having trouble finding one that I liked and man... did he get a good case. The rifle arrived well within the timeframe that he said it would. My original plan was to drive up to get it but life / work /etc didn't allow for that luxury so I had to opt for shipping. The fit and finish on the rifle is first class. I opted to include the scope. Shawn's price is as good or better than anyone else plus he mounts it and sights the rifle in. He sights it in pretty damned well if you ask me. Recoil, considering the caliber, is minimal. You know when you pull the trigger but my son's VTR kicks worse. The Edge came with a factory trigger. To it's credit the trigger is crisp and not that bad. I've gotten used to my Jewell triggers set at 1.25 pounds so the factory trigger is a tad heavy for my liking. I don't know if I'll change it. It's kind of hard to convince myself that I want to change anything right now. If it ain't broke... and all that. One thing that comes to mind with the Edge... you better know what's behind your target... the round still has a lot of energy well beyond what I can see with any certainty.

Trigger and other lame excuses aside I think that once I get some time behind the scope I can get my groups tightened right up. These two targets are from the last 7 of 12 rounds fired today (only 20 total). The barrel was hot. I shot the first 5 rounds, walked down and put up the second target, walked back, shot 4 into it, then swung over to the old target and put 3 into it. I wish I would have used a new target for the last 3 rounds.

The load for the first 4 rounds was 90 gr of H1000. Conditions are on the target (except wind. Gusty 0-6 mph from a dying thunderstorm to the east, 90 degree r-l cross). The first time I shot the rifle (last weekend) it was hotter than hell and twice as humid. The mirage was terrible yet I still managed sub-moa. I figured I had a shooter when that happened. The second 3 are 94 gr of H1000. The group has an extra hole in it from when I was adjusting for range during the first set of shots. I almost got all three of them inside a 1" square...

Enough chatter... both targets were shot at 300 yards. I would love to shoot at greater distance but for now that's the best I have available. I believe that I can shoot tighter groups than this... but I don't mind these considering that they represent the last 7 out a total of 20 rounds fired since the rifle arrived, not to mention that the barrel had not cooled down much.